Papers and Patronuses
by Dragonheart Wandcore
Summary: "It's not like our Patronuses are the same thing or anything." After I said this, Potter was silent for a minute, as if he regretted bringing up the subject of Patronuses.   Fifth year, Lily's POV.


**A/N: So, for this story, I was kinda thinking it takes place in their FIFTH year.**

**And I had to make up this random chick's name for their Defense Against the Arts' teacher because their teacher was unknown n stuff.**

**First thing, response to anonymous reviewer CF73, (I decided to write it here, since I can't reply back because of Anon,) who said, "I liked it, except for one thing: the time is inconsistent. If it took place in 4th year, they wouldn't be Heads, since only 7th years are. Also, 4th year is a little early for patronouses. Harry doing it in 3rd was a Big Deal. So, either it's a Big Deal for these guys, too, or it should take place later. Other than that, it was really cute!" | You're absolutely right. I accidentally made them Heads. I don't even know if that makes sense. But I guess I wasn't thinking about the time. I'll edit that. And about the whole "4th year is too early for Patronuses", that is also considered, so I'll change it to make it in their... fifth year? I don't want it to be sixth or seventh, because there's a lot of teasing on James' part; _before _he goes good n stuff.**

**ONWARD, MY BELOVED READERS.**

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><p>Rain pelted the school grounds roughly that night, giving the Common room the illusion of warmth and coziness. I dragged my 10-pound backpack towards the table across from the fireplace, and sat cross-legged on the couch. Head pounding and tempter short, I pulled out my Defense Against the Dark Arts book, a quill, and parchment. Before I could so much as write 'Lily Evans' at the top of the parchment, the Common room portrait banged open, and in came a large crowd of noisy Gryffindor Quidditch players, talking and laughing loudly as they entered, worsening my already-pounding head.<p>

I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists when the most absurdly haughty and depressing Sirius Black and James Potter, both still in their Chaser Quidditch robes, sat on either side of me as if they were invited. I noted how they were dripping wet and freezing; it _was _raining outside.

"Hey Evans, you coming to our big game tomorrow?" Potter asked. "You know, you could go with me, as a date."

"Not if your life depended on it," I muttered, trying to direct my focus back to my Defense textbook. If I had said this to anybody else, I'd inevitably feel like a horrible person and take this back. Then again, this was Potter, so he'd probably take it as 'Why don't you ask later? I might say yes.'

"Oh? But what if Snivelly's life did?" He arched an eyebrow and smiled at me.

I glared and snarled, "Can you leave Sev out of this? God, Potter, for once, can't you just leave him alone?"

"I don't believe he's physically capable of doing so," Black replied simply as he casually tossed hair from his eyes and looked at me with a smile.

"Agreed," Potter and I said in chorus.

"Watcha working on there, Evans?" Black asked in a sing-song voice, reading over my shoulder.

"The Patronus paper—a spell you obviously are incapable of."

"Excuse me, I can form a perfectly accurate Patronus at will!" Black whipped out his wand, took a second to think, and pronounced, '_Expecto Patronum.' _A large, silvery-blue Labrador escaped from the tip of his wand rather elegantly, and pounced its way around the couch, stopped at a halt in front of its master, and disappeared. Black grinned at me.

"Well—can you?" I turned to ask Potter.

"Obviously, Evans; I'm ashamed you think so little of me," Just as Potter stood up, slipped out his wand and was about to enchant the spell, he stopped and looked at me.

"Why? You can't do it, can you?" he asked with a grin. I cursed the blessed sun that I was such a horrid liar when under pressure. Black and Potter stared at me, grins growing wider as I blushed and stared at my knees.

"You haven't shown your Patronus yet?" Black asked disbelievingly.

"Oh sod off, both of you," I snarled. I stood up across from Potter and pulled out my wand from my front pocket. I took a deep breath, and quickly tried picturing the happiest thought I remembered.

_First arriving at Hogwarts, the thrill I felt when I successfully performed my very first spell, the magical, warm feeling I get when I hold my wand…._

_ "Expecto Patronum," _I opened my eyes, to nothing. No Patronus. Potter and Black burst out laughing in loud guffaws. Some students who were deeply immersed in conversation or homework turned their heads in our direction in confusion.

"Shut up, both of you!" I snapped.

It was odd, because I was feeling a mixture of anger, pressure, and nervousness when I called "_Expecto Patronum!" _for the second time, except I had actually produced a fully-formed Patronus. A large, beautiful doe emerged from the tip of my wand, prancing around Potter (who was still standing up) and walked around for a second more and turned its head to look me directly in the eyes. Its eyes were glassy, friendly. It was the same height as me. It took a step closer and then disappeared like smoke.

_That _put a stop to Black's and Potter's laughter.

For a minute, they were silent, staring at me solemnly until Black, out of the blues, burst out laughing harder and louder than ever. He looked up at Potter, giving him a look as if they were sharing an inside joke, and clamped his hands to his knees. Potter was gaping at me in shock.

"What? _What's the matter with you two?" _I snapped, offended and embarrassed. "What did I do?"

"It's not what you _did," _Black gasped heartily, still grinning from ear to ear. "Because Prongs' Patron—"

"Shut up, Padfoot," Potter spoke. "It's not important."

"Why? What's _your _Patronus?" I asked. "Can't be better than a deer."

For some unfathomable reason, this triggered Black to burst out laughing extremely loudly (some students glared at us and returned back to their activities) and stand up, shuffling to the boys' dormitories and snickering.

"H-hey Prongs," Black called from the foot of the boys' dormitory staircase. Obviously he wasn't properly sober yet. "Next time you encounter a D-dementor, you might want to make a run for it—" he was cut off by a fit of laughter that he couldn't suppress enough to finish his sentence. Still snickering, he shuffled up the staircase, his laughter easily heard by everyone in the Common room.

I turned my glower to Potter.

"Are you going to tell me what the hell that was about, or am I going to have to figure it out by myself?"

"Er—better go start my paper," he thumbed the staircase Black had just taken awkwardly and made to leave.

"Wait—" I caught his collar to yank him back. "So you're not going to tell me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," he answered simply, smiled briefly, and left rather hastily.

I found I could barely concentrate on my paper anymore, not with their unexpected, nerve-wrecking interruption.

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><p>"May I expect that you turn in your Patronus papers now, class, and afterwards I will ask that you all pair up to practice the Patronus charm in twos," said Professor Gaberith during Defense the next day.<p>

"I hope we get partnered together," Marlene McKinnon, my best friend since first year, said wistfully. We both stood up, along with the rest of the class, to form a line in front of Professor Gaberith's desk, holding our Patronus papers anxiously.

"Bloody unlikely; the only time Professor Gaberith lets us choose our partners is if the end of the world was near."

A minute later we handed in our foot-long essays on the Patronus charm and made to take our seats. Professor Gaberith then started assigning partners. She pulled out a parchment from under a heavy stack of books on her desk and cleared her throat.

"Alright, let's see here… LeVasseur will be working with Murray, DeAngelo with brown…." Professor Gaberith continued listing people off until, "McKinnon," Marlene stiffened, clenching her quill nervously. "You will be paired with Black." I snorted as she turned in her seat to glance at Sirius, who was deeply immersed in something hidden under the desk that he was twiddling. When his name was called his head snapped up and he muttered, "_What did she say?" _in a whisper to Potter.

Merlin knows how those two goofballs have been getting top-grades in every class.

A few seconds later, _my _name was called.

"Evans," I stiffened and gave Marlene a look. "…with Potter, and Danford will be with Jaclyn. Now—Evans, is there a problem?" she said exasperatedly with heavy sarcasm. The rest of the classroom turned to stare at me, snickering.

"N-no, Professor," I stammered, blushing to the tip of my hairline and glaring at my textbooks.

"Well, if you don't mind, Ms. Evans," the class snickered again. "I will ask you all to pair off and get to work."

I very slowly and reluctantly balanced my books in my arms and dragged my seat to Black's chair as he went to occupy mine. Just as I was passing by Black, he muttered, "If you think being Prongs' partner is shocking, just wait till you see his Patronus," he winked at James, who glared in response.

"W-why—what—?" but before I could get another word out, Black barked an evil laugh and returned on his way next to Marlene. I sighed and dropped my things next to Potter's.

"Two questions," I began. "One, is the huge secret thing from yesterday about your _Patronus? _Because that's hardly worth it. How bad could your Patronus be? And what do I have to do with it? And second, what was Black hiding just a minute ago under his desk?"

"Oh, that? He was planning some Filibuster's wet-start fireworks in all the pots in Herbology, so that when the students water their plants…," he trailed off. "Of course, _you _won't be with us since you've dropped Herbology, so we'll think of another way to get you," he winked reassuringly.

"Excellent," I muttered. "And what about your Patronus?"

"That, my dear, will be kept confident from you, at least, attempted." Potter tweaked my nose as I glared at him.

"Well, not for long; the point in this assignment is to practice the Patronus," I grinned.

"Oh, right," his face fell, eyes wide. "Well, actually, _you _might be interested in the matter—" he was cut off when the door of the classroom opened and Professor McGonagall came in, holding a few parchments. She turned to Professor Gaberith and asked, "May I speak to Miss Evans as a Prefect for a moment?" Professor Gaberith nodded, and inclined me forward.

I glared at him. "You escaped _this _time." He snickered as I made my way forward.

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><p>I took the girls' dormitory stairs two at a time, wanting to get as far away from our dorms as possible. Maybe, if the Common room was empty… nope, as full and as lively as ever. I kept my head low as I nearly sprinted to the portrait, not wanting to be stopped by anyone.<p>

Unfortunately, fate was not on my side.

"Hey, Evans," Potter called from the couch by the fireplace. He plopped out of his seat and sprinted to my side; I didn't bother looking up or stopping for him on my swift way out of the common room. "Hogsmeade trip this Saturday, I was wond—hey, what, what's wrong?" concern immediately filled in his voice once he caught sight of the wetness on my cheeks. "Evans? What's the matter?"

"Leave me alone," I muttered hopelessly as I slammed the portrait shut. As if that made any difference. Almost simultaneously, the portrait opened again, earning a few complaints from the Fat Lady painting behind it, and Potter emerged from it, eyes locked on my face.

"Lily?" he tried again. "What's the matter?" Merlin, he wasn't going to give up, was he?

I paced around the hallway for a second longer before I leaned with my back against the wall and sunk down, my arms around my knees and my head buried in them. I didn't want Potter catching any more tears. He copied my pose, sitting next to me.

"Lily?"

I poked my head up slightly to look him in the eye and ask in a cracked voice, "What? Now you're calling me 'Lily'?"

"Oh, I guess I just did, didn't I?" he shrugged. We were silent for a few seconds, or minutes. Who knew.

"Potter?" I asked in a small voice. He turned his head to look at me questioningly. "Distract me."

"Erm, okay," he said. "Well, Padfoot's asked Chloe Andy on a date this Saturday at Hogsmeade."

"Pad—which one's Padfoot? Remus?"

He chuckled. "Sirius is Padfoot. Remus is Moony."

"I can guarantee you I'll forget that by tomorrow," I responded simply. I sighed and buried my face in my arms again. He could easily see my depressed mood returning again.

"That's obviously not working, uh…," he panicked. "Uhm, you've always wanted to see my Patronus, haven't you?" My head shot up as I stared at him incredulously.

"Merlin, Potter, you don't _have _to; I'm not going to make you," I muttered. "And it can't be _that _bad; it's not like our Patronuses are the same thing or anything." After I said this, Potter was silent for a minute, as if he regretted bringing up the subject of Patronuses now.

"Merlin it's not the _same, _is it?" my mouth plopped open.

"Well, not exactly…," he withdrew his wand from his pocket, took a second to think, and muttered, "_Expecto Patronum." _Out of his wand rushed a beautiful, bluish stag; the same exact height of _my _Patronus, the same features, the same face, except with antlers. Immediately after I gasped, the Patronus disappeared like smoke, and Potter turned to face me. I was silent for a minute.

Our souls were practically the same thing.

"Is-is that why Black was being such an idiot?" I stammered.

"Probably," he shrugged. "So… are you going to tell me what happened a few minutes ago? Or will I have to figure it out by myself?" he said the last sentence in an annoyingly high-pitched voice, obviously imitating what I had said to him two nights ago. I snickered.

"Erm, well, Marlene and I got into a small fight," I murmured, staring at Potter's left knee as I spoke. "About Severus; whether he was an aspiring Death-Eater or not. And, well… she showed me the _Prophet, _and somehow students from Hogwarts had gotten into Hogsmeade and tortured some Muggleborns for a laugh… and, one thing led to another, and…." I trailed off, eyes still locked on Potter's left knee.

"I'm sorry," Potter whispered sincerely. "I know how much your friendship with Sniv—Severus meant." I snorted. For another minute I was silent.

"He doesn't know I know, though, so yeah," I mumbled.

"Are you going to tell him you know?"

I sighed. "I really don't know."

"I think you should," Potter said confidently. "I dunno, maybe try to talk him out of it—"

"I don't think I can," I said in defeat.

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Potter said, looking me in the eye. I shrugged.

"I guess," I mumbled, and laughed shortly and vindictively. "Who knew _you'd _be giving me better advice than my best friend?" Potter snorted.

"Well, you learn something new every day, don't you?" he said with a smirk.

"I guess you do."

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading! Please review.**

**Till next time :D**


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